Finely carved shell cameo of Endymion Asleep of the rock of Latmos.
Bulls mouth conch shell and serpentine gilt-metal frame.5.5cms by 4.5cms.c.1840.
The original early 2nd century carved panel was discovered during excavations on the Aventine hill in Rome in the early eighteenth century and removed to the Villa Albani.
The myth is that to avoid growing old Endymion slept forever in a cave, either at his own wish or on the order of his wife, the moon goddess Selene.
The appealing subject of endless sleep under the stars was much copied in art and further popularised by the poet Keats in 1818. 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever'.
The original is now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome.Famous copies in the British Museum and in plaster at the Sir John Soane Museum,London.
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